Despite the return of a rise in recorded daily numbers of Covid-19 infections, the French government has announced the suspension as of March 14th of most of the restrictions introduced to contain the epidemic, including mask-wearing in many public places or the requirement of a valid vaccine pass to access restaurants and leisure venues.
While hospital admissions in France for patients with Covid-19 fell slightly this week, the number of people who have tested positive for infection by the virus that causes the disease has begun to rise again.
The medical profession has been on a steep learning curve about the consequences, notably long-term, of infection by the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the Covid-19 disease it causes. But mystery remains over many aspects of the virus, and in particular about its effects, and true infection rates, among the very young. Caroline Coq-Chodorge reports from the south-east French city of Lyon, where paediatricians with the country’s second-largest teaching hospital group recount their findings.
More than 50 people were arrested and several hundred fined as a so-called 'freedom convoy' of vehicles reached Paris in protest over France's Covid-19 vaccine pass requirements for access to a number of public venues.
Before his meeting in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin on Monday, Emmanuel Macron refused to submit to a Russian PCR test for Covid over fears that his DNA could be extracted, sources close to the French president told news agency Reuters.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex and health minister Olivier Véran on Thursday presented the planned gradual lifting of current public restrictions to contain the spread of Covid-19, with mass gatherings allowed from early February, when staff home-working where practical will no longer be required, and the reopening of night clubs after the middle of the month.
French school teachers and education staff held a crippling strike and nationwide protest marches last Thursday over what they say are chaotic and unsafe working conditions brought about by ever-changing, last-minute anti-Covid measures imposed without consultation by the education ministry, and which they too often learn about from the media. Mathilde Goanec has been hearing from teachers and local councils about their nigh impossible mission amid the government’s determination to keep schools open.
An administrative tribunal has overturned a requirement recently imposed by the Paris prefecture for the wearing of masks in outdoor public spaces in the capital, ruling that the measure was disproportionate to the health risks otherwise present and that it did not take into account the locations and timing of mass circulation.
In an interview with daily newspaper Le Parisien French president Emmanuel Macron cheerfully admitted that he wanted to “piss off” those who had chosen not to get vaccinated against Covid-19 as much as possible. The comment has made headlines around the world. But less remarked upon was his extraordinary description of anyone unvaccinated as an “irresponsible person who is no longer a citizen”. In saying this, says Mediapart's political correspondent Ellen Salvi, the head of state – the guarantor of law in the French Republic – has committed a moral, institutional and political error. In this op-ed article she argues that Emmanuel Macron is adding hysteria to the debate, dividing society and giving fresh impetus to the very people he is claiming to be combating.
Mediapart has seen a document in which doctors in the south of France are drawing up plans to decide which patients will be admitted to hospital intensive care units - and which will not - amid fears that the current wave of Covid-19 cases could overwhelm them. The revelation comes as France recorded 179,807 Covid cases in a single day. According to the working document, if the situation worsens ICU staff in Marseille and across the southern region of PACA could refuse admission to frail patients over 65. Meanwhile doctors have told Mediapart of their concern over the ethical issues they will face if they have to deny patients healthcare. Pascale Pascariello reports.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex on Monday announced new measures to stem the rampant progression of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, including mask-wearing in city centre streets and limits on numbers attending indoor and outdoor gatherings, although no curfews are presently envisaged and schools will reopen as normal in January.
France's top health authority has recommended anti-Covid-19 booster jabs be administered just three months after the last of the standard two vaccinations, down from an initial waiting time of five months, as the country this weekend registered more than 100,000 daily cases of coronavirus infections for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
As the Christmas weekend approaches, amid official appeals for people to test for the coronavirus before joining in family gatherings, record demand for PCR and antigen tests, which saw more than six million performed in the week between December 13th-19th, has left an estimated two-thirds of chemist's stores out of stock.
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